Job Finding Tips from an Industry Insider

This week, we had the opportunity to receive inside information from the owner of a job recruiting agency.

We held a Facebook Live event where we introduced Karl Amlie, the owner of Express Employment Professionals in Forest Lake, MN. See, Karl is passionate about finding people jobs. He understands the value of hard work and wants to see other people succeed.

He shared with us that right now, it’s a good time to be unemployed. That in the United States, there are actually more jobs listed online than there are unemployed people. This is the first time that this has happened since they tracked both those statistics.

Within our company, we have received numerous candidates through Express Employment. Some of who have worked with us for quite a while now. Express Employment is a good place to start if you or someone you know is looking for a job.

As Karl says, they figuratively take you by the hand and try to help you. They partner with you to be the best advocated for you that they can. They can help you with your resume. They can work with you by putting you through an interview process to find you a job that you like. They can market you to their clients to find companies that might be able to utilize you. They truly want to help people find work.

See, we understand that finding work can be difficult. We all come from different backgrounds and have gone through different experiences that we wanted to lend a helping hand. In our efforts to create a better way for people to live, we wanted to share some insightful tips to you on how you can better prepare yourself when it comes to finding a job. Here is the video of that conversation:

6 Second Resume

There’s this statistic out there that hiring managers will only look at your resume for 6 seconds. Primarily, because hiring managers want to narrow down their results to the top 10 candidates. So how to you get noticed in those 6 seconds?

According to Karl, one of the first things that he looks at when looking at a resume is the number of jobs that a person has had over a certain amount of time. All of which might be good reasons why someone might have changed jobs, but one way that Karl suggests is to stick it out for a year or so at the job you’re at. That way you can build up your work history. Then, you can take that experience onto the next employer.

Another way to strengthen your resume is to pay attention to the details. Some of the simplest mistakes in your resume might turn employers away. Watch your spelling and grammar errors. Try adding in keywords that pertain the job you’re applying to. Keep your resume to one page, showcasing your skillsets.

Networking

Take it a step further. After submitting a resume, go and talk with the company directly. Check out networking events near you, career fairs, and hiring events. Develop a relationship with them. It’s easy to look at someone on paper and just write them off. It’s a lot harder to do that when the person is standing in front of you. To a hiring manager, this will demonstrate that you are passionate about working with them.

Attitude and Reliability

Meeting with hiring managers can be intimidating. Before you go in front of these people, Karl believes you should know that the two most important characteristics that a person can demonstrate is having a positive attitude and being reliable.

To demonstrate a good attitude could simply be a firm handshake, direct eye contact, a smile. Just something to exude that good positive energy that makes up a good attitude towards them. As for reliability, it can be harder to show that up front, but you can speak to reliability and explain to them that when you say something that you’re committed to it. Then go out and prove it on the first few days on the job.